Four boosters a year at this rate…

[FluffyCushion123]

…and if MN is anything to go by then apparently only a tiny minority of people are the slightest be worried about the unknown impact on their health of having multiple vaccines per year. It’s official that the expectation in the UK is now to get a booster after three months.

Boris clearly said today that ‘for now’ people will be able to continue to get a Covid pass with just two vaccines, but there was a clear implication that this could change.

I admit I was pretty scared about getting my vaccines and only got them recently.

I actually think the booster policy might deter the vaccine hesitant even further.

Anyone else really concerned about this?

but if you expand giving boosters 3 monthly to (at the very least) all vulnerable people then that's a lot of nurses, doctors, pharmacists etc who will have to spend time on doing jabs rather than other work.

Some years it's a a real pain in the arse sorting those in my family out who need once yearly flu injections - frequently not as accesible as many on MN seem to think.

My areas doing okay with covid boosters - it's a wait to be called situation here- but they're still running the mass vaccination center which menas the council sport facilites are still closed and separately the site been sold going forward for re-dvelopment. So it won't be an option even if they could staff it next year.

I just don't see how jabs every three months is logistically possible - I do expect there will be a flu/covid yearly injection for over 50 and vunerable people - which may not be a bad thing if it increases flu jab uptake.

It’s a new virus it will take a few years for it to become an everyday winter illness like flu, eventually we will probably be able to have an annual booster like flu. Until then yes I’m happy to have as many boosters as it takes rather than be forced to isolate from friends and family again. I will chose vaccine over restrictions every time.

[quote 5zeds]@FluffyCushion123 because “I don’t like injections” is such a definitive and well thought out stance?.[/quote]
Is 'I have a severe needle phobia' any better or does that also get a stupid grinning emoji?

Depends what you’ve done to address it I guess @PinkSparklyPussyCat I used to faint at the sight of a needle but I wanted children and needed IVF to have them. It meant injecting daily so I worked with HCP to find a way. If you e genuinely exhausted all options and can’t cope with needles to save your life then I’d put you in the same category as someone who can’t take them for any other medical reason. I would imagine CBT is a good starting point. HTH

I spoke to my GP who laughed and called me a baby and didn't offer any help. I had a panic attack in front of another GP when she wanted me to go for an over 40s health check. She tore up the form and told me not to worry. I can't afford to pay for treatment myself so I just get on with it and avoid needles wherever possible.

I've managed to have my first 2 covid jabs thanks to DH taking me, speaking for me and going in with with me and I'm booked for a booster on Tuesday. Whether I actually go through with that remains to be seen. It will depend on whether there's a queue (I won't wait), whether they allow DH to go in with me (I won't go in if they they don't) and how I feel on the day. I will not go through this every few months, I'd rather take my chances.

I would happily have an annual booster, like flu. I would have one more often if absolutely necessary as I haven't suffered any bad side effects. There are lots of conditions that require regular injections, even if they are not vaccinations - my mum in her 80s has quarterly injections for osteoporosis, my dad in his 80s has quarterly hormone injections for prostate cancer, my friend with bad psoriasis has weekly injections. So the idea of regularly having something injected into me isn't prima facie worrying.

It’s a new virus it will take a few years for it to become an everyday winter illness like flu,

Doesn't mean the infrastructure to be able to do 3 month vaccinations is actually going to be there.

Delivering the covid booster program has been a huge effort and strain on a services with many existing problems.

At the start of the year, I was so desperate to get a vaccine, I was able to get my first in February through work and then the second 12 weeks later. I’m now eligible for The booster, which I have booked but don’t feel the same level of urgency to have it as I did the first two jabs. I am very pro vaccines normally (the dc have been vaccinated against everything, I was at the front of the queue for the first 2 vaccines) but the thought of being vaccinated every 3 months doesn’t sit right with me at all. I also wonder if the resources we are using to vaccinate the UK with would be better used Helping vaccinate other poorer countries. Could The delta variant have possibly been avoided if India had better vaccine rates (I’m not a scientist, so I have no idea, but it makes sense in my head), maybe we should be helping out a bit more worldwide And sorting the international problem rather than only thinking about ourselves?

I think if it’s every three months or every week is really dependent on the science so shouldn’t drive donating to the rest of the world or not. Personally I think a global response is the only long term solution but I think that will happen too.

www.cnbc.com/2021/12/08/omicron-pfizer-ceo-says-we-may-need-fourth-covid-vaccine-doses-sooner-than-expected.html

I think a lot of people are not comfortable with 3 jabs in a short time frame let alone 4.

I accept that the covid19 situation is both new and evolving but surely virology and vaccinology experts were able to use their experience and knowledge to map out what the vaccination strategy would be. Did they know all along that the probability would be that vaccines would both wane over time and lose efficacy when faced with mutations?

Because I don't remember that being clearly communicated to the public. And I think a lot of people accepted 2 vaccine doses thinking that that would be all or at least that would be enough for several years (like most childhood vaccines).

@Beachcomber

www.cnbc.com/2021/12/08/omicron-pfizer-ceo-says-we-may-need-fourth-covid-vaccine-doses-sooner-than-expected.html

I think a lot of people are not comfortable with 3 jabs in a short time frame let alone 4.

I accept that the covid19 situation is both new and evolving but surely virology and vaccinology experts were able to use their experience and knowledge to map out what the vaccination strategy would be. Did they know all along that the probability would be that vaccines would both wane over time and lose efficacy when faced with mutations?

Because I don't remember that being clearly communicated to the public. And I think a lot of people accepted 2 vaccine doses thinking that that would be all or at least that would be enough for several years (like most childhood vaccines).

I agree. And I think people are rather suspicious about the head of Pfizer telling us we will need very regular jabs.

Yes. He seems quite cheerful about it. Certainly more so than the rest of us!

Christ - after the way I felt yesterday 24 hours after the Moderna booster & even still now I’m not sure I could handle one every three months…felt really grotty after the first AZ, not so bad after the second - but the Moderna booster was on another level of after effects…

@Mojoj

You're on the wrong site raising concerns about vaccines OP. Of course it's nonsensical to imagine that we're just supposed to keep pumping vaccines (with no long term data on their safety available) into our bodies. It's Omicron now. Wonder what the next variant will be called and if the latest booster will be enough? Where's the public health campaigns encouraging people to boost their immune systems by eating properly and exercising? So sick of everyone blindly believing the shit that spews forth from Westminster.

well lots of us feel sick of people blindly spewing forth unsubstantiated, barely literate crap about vaccines, moving goalposts etc. So I guess we're almost in the same camp. Except we can read data and understand science, so there's a big difference there.

It's worth remembering that even the flu vaccine has only been on offer for free on an age related basis for all over 50s since last winter due to Covid. It used to be 65+ and may well need to revert to that.

This is a lot of extra time spent on vaccinations, can we keep this up indefinitely? Will we have the staff and capacity?

@frazzledali I’m with you, the idea that some
posters think eating well will save you from Covid would be hilarious if it wasn’t so tragic